Articles by: Laura Patterson

For many organizations, marketing’s primary role in maximizing the pipeline equation is to add as many qualified opportunities – those most likely to close – to the pipeline as possible (leads). So it’s no wonder that Marketers tend to rely upon a variety of common lead-related metrics, such as cost per lead, lead volume and lead quality – to measure their customer acquisition effectiveness. However, limiting marketing’s metrics to “leads” actually does both marketing and the organization a disservice. Learn what other pipeline-related metrics marketing should employ to facilitate better activity and investment decisions. Read more ›

As marketers create more content, leverage more channels, and vary the touches, it is essential given the investment of time, energy, and money that we understand each of these plays to the buying process, and which components have the greatest impact on generating conversations, consideration and ultimately consumption. This article explores optimization and attribution modeling, when to use them, how they differ, plus the various approaches for assigning and measuring attribution.

Marketers everywhere are scrambling to develop content and leverage the myriad of channels as a way to reach and connect with prospects and customers.

Here’s the kicker, if we focus on producing content without taking the customer buying process into consideration our efforts may be for naught. Content delivered in the right channel at the wrong time can be a wasted touch point. This article outlines how to synchronize mix and content with the customer buying journey and lifecycle, and why this is important.

With more data and analytics available than ever before, marketers are better able to understand what content, channels, and touch points may be most engaging based on a prospect’s buying role and where they are in the buying process. But if it still feels like a hit or miss situation, you may be wondering what else you could be doing to help guide your content and channel decisions. Read more ›

After a brutal winter, spring has finally arrived–and along with it, allergies. After the colder and longer than usual winter, plants have burst into action, spraying all sorts of pollen into the air, and my normally healthy husband, who works outdoors, has succumbed. He was really suffering, to the point where it began to affect his ability to work. He thought he could do battle on his own, but after a few miserable days and sleepless nights he: Read more ›

The Sales Playbook, Defined

A sales playbook is a collection of tactics or methods that characterizes the roles and responsibilities for you (and your sales team), lays out clear objectives, identifies metrics for measurement, and provides a common framework and approach for closing sales.

The playbook helps you implement a common sales methodology that leverages the processes used by high performers. The outcome? You can sell more effectively and handle different selling situations, position against a particular competitor, or communicate the value proposition to each person in the buying process. Read more ›